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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29162538">Red Eight</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wisky0913/pseuds/Wisky0913'>Wisky0913</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars Original Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:48:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,491</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29162538</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wisky0913/pseuds/Wisky0913</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Short story about Zal Dinnes, Red Eight at the Battle of Scarif</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Red Eight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lieutenant Zal Dinnes had been through a lot and while she had lost count of the amount of missions she had been on, she never lost track of her kills. Every member of the Yellow Aces would crack a joke every now and then about it, especially during combat when she racked up another kill but she always laughed it off. Zal had been the reason that the Aces kill count betting pool had been canceled by the Aces commanding officer after everyone got tired of Zal taking the credit pool at the end of the cycle. </p><p>	That time had come and gone though, much quicker than Zal had hoped. After the imperials had established a stronger presence in the Teirfon system the Aces had disbanded with members of the squadron as well as other base personnel being sent to various rebel cells across the galaxy. When she heard about her assignment to Yavin Zal was thrilled especially when she found out that Porkins would be joining her with her new squadron. </p><p>	It had been a few months since she had transferred to Massassi base on Yavin and everyday had been roughly the same for Zal. Wake up at 0600, eat breakfast with a cup of caf, attend a morning squadron meeting, check in with the flight engineers about her fighter and make adjustments, take off for system patrol, head back to base for refueling, go to debriefing, grab a meal at the mess and then attend another squadron briefing. Occasionally system patrol would be replaced by a strike on imperial forces, but those missions weren’t many after the failed attack on Lothal by Phoenix Squadron that had left leadership fearful of another large scale assault.  Something about today was different though but Zal wasn’t sure what it was.</p><p>	The day had started like any other. Zal woke up in her bunk and rubbed her eyes before sitting up and swinging her legs over the edge of her bed. A cool chill shot through her body as her bare feet touched the cold stone surface beneath her. Standing up she moved over to where her orange flight suit and helmet were. Grabbing her flight suit first she slid both legs in first, the left then the right. Pulling up the top of her flight suit she slid both arms in before zipping the suit and sliding her white (looked more of a tan) flak vest on over it. Sitting back on her bed she slipped both of her boots on and finally her flight gloves each finger sliding into place. Standing up she moved towards the door, grabbing her dark red helmet as the door slid open. </p><p>	The bright light of the hallway was almost blinding as she left her room and began making her way to the mess hall. </p><p>	‘Well you look wide awake,’ a familiar male voice said from behind her. </p><p>	‘As awake as I’ll ever be Jek,’ Zal responded. ‘Are you on your way to the mess?’</p><p>	‘You know me… I always need my two course breakfast to start the day.’</p><p>	‘Hard not to remember that. The cooks and kitchen personnel always have to cook extra just for you… They never let us hear the end of it.’</p><p>	Jek laughed in response and they continued their walk to the mess hall, cracking jokes and reminiscing on their days with the Yellow Aces. As the two were about to enter the mess they nearly bumped into Wedge Antilles and Derek Kilvian who were on their way out with somber concerned looks on their faces. </p><p>	‘Wedge, Der…’ Zal had to correct herself, Derek Klivian hated to be called by his first name she had learned that the hard way during their first mission together. So she started again. </p><p>	‘Wedge, Hobbie, what’s wrong?’</p><p>	Hobbie grimaced as soon as the words had left her mouth, but Wedge provided her with the response she was looking for. </p><p>	‘Jedha City… well most of Jedha itself was destroyed today. We just finished listening to the broadcast. The Empire claims it was a mining accident, but I don’t believe it. I used to fly with the empire, I know what they're capable of.’ He said as the two began to make their way towards the hangar, leaving Zal with a look of shock on her face.</p><p>	Zal was able to catch the end of the broadcast as she entered the mess, although everything about Jedha had already passed. As she sat down next to Porkins and his two trays of food, she saw the expressions of the other pilots of her squadron and of the soldiers and other base personnel that were having meals. Everyone’s face was just a grim as she had seen Wedge and Hobbie earlier. It made Zal wonder just what else was in store for today, whether it was good or bad. As Zal finished her meal she said a quick goodbye to Porkins before making her way to the ready room for Red Squadron’s morning meeting to find out what todays’ pilot roster would be. </p><p>      Taking her usual seat near Theron Nett and John D. Branon, she scanned the room to see how the pilots who she hadn’t seen that morning were holding up with the news from Jedha. Mostly they seemed fine but she never had a chance to ask as everyone as Garven Dreis, Red leader, entered the room to start the meeting and deliver the flight roster for the day.</p><p>As they made it to the part of the meeting where the roster was announced Zal surveyed the room. She saw all of the cadets tense up wondering if they’d be getting their chance for actual missions as they’d mostly been relegated to patrol duty. But their tension was quickly relieved when the roster began.</p><p>     Red Twelve went to Lieutenant Ricard, G. as the rest of the squadron knew him. Red Eleven went to Ralo Surrel. Red Ten to Theron Nett, as usual. Red Nine to Nozo Naytaan. Red Eight was next and as expected, Zal heard her name called. Red Seven went to Cadet Harb Binli as opposed to the usual Elyhek Rue. Binli had been flying patrols as Red Seven for a while now but today might have been his chance for an actual mission. Red Six to Porkins, as expected with Hobbie on standby. Red Five to Cadet Pedrin Gal, who was also being promoted off of patrol duty. Then Zal stopped paying attention, thinking instead about being behind the control stick of her fighter. </p><p>     As it ended, she noticed a few names in particular that weren’t called. She saw Col Takbright storm out of the room upon dismissal, hotheaded as always. Wenton Chan was talking with Quersey, they were probably heading to assist with ship maintenance as usual when they were grounded. John D. Branon who’s fighter was still under repair after loosing his hyerdrive on their last mission. Two months later and it still hasn’t been replaced she thought. The name she kept coming back to was Wedge. She wondered why he had been left off the roster, he was young, talented and had plenty of experience, but before she had the chance to find out Red Leader gave him a new assignment and he left the ready room.<br/>					                                                                       .	.	.	 </p><p>	As she made her way through the hangar, she walked past a tall gray droid with the imperial emblem on its arm. She had seen it around the base before, but much more frequently than she had today. Moving over towards Red Squadron’s fighters, she noticed Harb Binli working on the engine assembly with one of the techs and an astromech.</p><p>	‘Your fighter’s really taking a beating the past few times out hasn’t it?’ Zal asked.</p><p>	‘Yeah, even if they’re not combat missions, my bird still seems to need the most work out of all of them.’ Binli responded. ‘Hopefully that changes today, but with the way things have gone I don’t think they will.’</p><p>	‘So what’s wrong with it this time?’</p><p>	‘I was having issues with the power in both of my port side engines. Techs say it’s an issue with the power transfer system, probably a short in one or both couplings. They weren’t going to pay much attention to it until I was put on the flight roster today.’ Binli said as he raised his head, looking out at the rest of the hangar. ‘Hey do you see that?’ he asked while pointing over to the center of the hangar. </p><p>	Zal looked over and saw a group of rebel marines standing together with the imperial droid she saw earlier standing with them. The man in front with dark hair, a scruffy black beard and mustache was talking to a female with shorter cut brown hair with a low placed bun.</p><p>	‘Hold on, I know her.’ Binli said. ‘That's Jyn Erso. She was at the high command meeting, vouching for a rebel assault on Scarif. I stood directly behind her!’</p><p>	‘If that’s the case, then something big must be going on if they’re all together. Though with the way things have gone it could also be nothing’ Zal said turning back to face Binli ‘We should probably get your fighter in order just to be safe though.’</p><p>					                                                                       .	.	.	</p><p>	It wasn’t much more than an hour later, as Zal was heading to the ready room for another meeting when she heard Wedge Antilles voice come in over the base comm.</p><p>	‘Attention, all flight personnel, please report to your commanders immediately. All flight personnel, please report to your commanders immediately. We have been redirected to Scarif. Pilots, you'll be briefed by your squadron leaders en route. May the Force be with you.'</p><p>	Zal’s pulse started to race, Binli was right about something big going on she thought, as she turned to make her way to her fighter. Nearly sprinting to her x-wing, helmet gripped in her right hand, when she got to her fighter she saw that her astromech was already loaded in and ready to go, its yellow head with green markings spinning as it chirped with excitement. The droid was nearly as excited as she was that they were finally going to see some combat. </p><p>	Zal pulled her helmet on and fastened the chin strap before climbing the ladder to enter her cockpit. Dropping down into her seat and leaning back into the seat she could feel the soft padded leather against her back. Moving to switch on her comm first she reported to Red Leader who acknowledged her before continuing.</p><p>	‘All fighters prepare for launch. Your droids already have the nav coordinates plugged in, once we clear atmosphere we will jump with the rest of the fleet. We already have boots on the ground on Scarif our job will be to fly support for the fleet.’</p><p>	‘Copy Boss,’ each pilot responded. Turning on her engines and other remaining systems, Zal prepared for launch. There wasn’t a better place in the galaxy than behind the controls of a fighter she thought. Pulling up on her stick she felt her fighter leave the ground and flipped the switch to raise her landing gear. As she reached flight altitude she angled her fighter to leave atmosphere and follow the other Red Squadron fighters. </p><p>	Once all fighters were in formation they made the jump. </p><p>	‘All wings report in’ Red Leader called as the blue swirl of hyperspace moved around them.</p><p>	‘Red twelve standing by,’ G. said over the comm.</p><p>	‘Red eleven standing by,’ Surrel responded.</p><p>	‘Red ten standing by,’ Nett called in.</p><p>	‘Red nine standing by,’ Naytaan responded.</p><p>	‘Red Eight standing by,’ Zal said over the comm.</p><p>	After responding she ran through a weapons check on her fighter, something she’d done since her early days with the aces. She couldn’t miss a kill due to a weapons malfunction, that wouldn’t suit her at all. She first checked her missles and torpedos, when those were in order she switched to her lasers. Her ship, for some reason had an issue with its lasers, she had given it checks before and after every mission and even had the techs look at it but no one could figure it out not even the droids. She just hoped that this mission wouldn’t leave her with only one or two working cannons like the last time she flew combat a few months ago against pirates. </p><p>	As everyone finished their check ins, Red Leader began to assign flights to the pilots. Red three was flying point with red five and seven on their wings, which would provide the cadets with some much needed leader ship. Red leader was flying point with red ten and red two on his wings. Red nine was on point with red four and twelve on his wings. Then it was Zal’s flight, Red leader put Red eleven on point with herself and Porkins on his wings. Zal always enjoyed the fact that Dreis kept her and Porkins together since they had been wing mates with the aces. </p><p>	As they dropped out of hyperspace Zal heard Adrmial Raddus’s voice over the comm. </p><p>	‘This is Adrmial Raddus of the Rebel Alliance. All Squadron leaders report in!’</p><p>	‘Adrimal, this is Blue leader standing by,’ General Antoc Merrick said over the comm.</p><p>	‘This is Gold Leader, standing by,’ Captain Jon Vander called in.</p><p>	‘This is Red leader standing by,’ Garven Dreis said over the comm.</p><p>	‘This is Green leader standing by.’</p><p>	‘Red and Gold Squadrons defend the fleet! Blue squadron get to the surface before they close that gate!’ Admiral Raddus ordered.</p><p>‘Blue Squadron on me,’ General Merrick ordered. As Zal watched the fighters and support craft descend into towards the planet below.</p><p>	After half the ships made it through the gate, Zal noticed out of her cockpit that the shield gate had begun to move within moments the shield had closed. <br/>‘Come on, come on, come on!’ she heard Vangos Grek call out.</p><p>	‘Pull up!’ she heard Barion Rainer, Blue four yell over the comm.</p><p>	Zal heard Grek scream over the comm as she watched two x-wings impact on the shield destroying both. She had flown with Grek when they were with the aces, he would be missed. Four other fighters managed to pull up but one was caught by a turbolaser and spun out of control leaving three fighters of blue squadron remaining outside the shield gate.</p><p>	‘Red Group, accelerate to attack speed. Let’s thin out those TIEs! I want flights in pairs, Red three form your group up with mine. Red nine form your group up with Red eleven.’</p><p>	Zal adjusted her thrusters and followed Surrel’s lead. It wasn’t long before a TIE was in range and she pulled on the trigger reducing the enemy fighter to dust and debris.</p><p>	‘Mark down another one for Red Eight!’ Porkins called over the comm. As the three fighters moved in formation just ahead of Naytaan’s group. A few moments later, Pokrins got his own kill. Swinging his fighter around to pick of two ties heading for a CR-90 before falling back into formation.</p><p>	‘Great shot Jek!’ Zal called out over the comm. </p><p>	‘Red Eight, callsigns only.’ Red leader remarked over the comm. Zall knew that was coming, but she preferred using names anytime she could. Especially when it was a friend of hers.</p><p>	‘Red leader to Red nine and eleven,’ Dreis called over the comm.</p><p>	‘Copy boss,’ they responded in unison. </p><p>	‘We have to take out that shield gate! We’ll clear a path once we do, make your runs. Green Squadron will join you. Your goal is to clear as many turrets as possible to allow Gold squadron to make their run.’</p><p>	Forming up in staggered line Zal waited for their opening to attack the gate. As she watched Red Leader’s group lure away a large group of fighters she heard Red Twelve call over the comm.</p><p>	‘We’re going in!’</p><p>	Banking to her right and shifting the fighter into a dive, Zal followed her group on their attack on the shield gate. Once they were in range she pulled the trigger launching red laser blasts into the gates structure, before leveling out and focusing fire on the turbolaser turrets.</p><p>	‘Stay with me!’ G. called out. </p><p>	As they reached an opening Zal watched as Naytaan’s group dove into the empty space of the support structure with Red four shifting to point. Surrel kept their group above the gate in an effort to clear more lasers. As they made their respective runs, she heard Red Four yell over the comm as she watched Naytaan and G. pull out of the opening, before they all pulled away to rejoin the protection of the fleet. </p><p>	‘Red Leader this is Gold leader, we are starting our attack run on the shield gate.’ Captain Vander said over the comm. </p><p>	‘Red Eight, Red Six on me. We are going to screen their attack run.’</p><p>	‘Right with you Red eleven,’ Porkins said over the comm. </p><p>	Holding formation, Zal opened fire on a group of TIEs that were chasing after Gold Squadron’s y-wings. The group was destroyed almost immediately by the combined fire power of their three x-wings. As the bombers began their run, Zal heard the whine of TIEs as her scanner filled with red dots. She had to jerk the control stick of her fighter rapidly to the left and then back to the right to avoid crashing into one of them. </p><p>	When Zal righted herself she moved her fighter to intercept the horde of fighters that had just joined the fight. Shifting to point of her group after Surrel took a hit to his ship’s lower port side engine, she picked off another three fighters as she heard Red twelve call out over the comm.<br/>	‘We’re having no affect on that shield!’</p><p>	‘How much more can that thing take?’ Zal heard Blue three comment shortly after. As she pulled herself around to see Naytaan, G. and Blue three pull away from the gate, pulling the trigger to destroy a TIE that had the bad luck of flying in front of her. That shield is tougher than we thought, Zal thought to herself. </p><p>	‘Stay close Red five, where are you going?’ she heard Dreis call over the comm. Zal banked to the right to see Pedrin Gaul break off from Red Leader and Red three’s group.<br/>	‘They’re all over me! I’m trying to lose them! This is Red Five I need help!’ </p><p>	Zal attempted to move into position to assist but it was too late. She watched as the lead TIE opened fire sending green laser blasts into the rear of Gaul’s fighter destroying it almost instantly. There was nothing she could have done, she was too far out. She pulled her fighter back to the left bringing Surrel and Porkins along with her as they moved to assist a Nebulon frigate under attack from more TIEs. </p><p>	As they moved to assist she saw Gold Squadron setting up an attack run on a star destroyer. </p><p>	‘Hit that opening!’ Gold Leader called over the comm.</p><p>	‘We see it Gold leader! Ion torpedoes away!’ Wona Goban called over the comm. </p><p>	After destroying the TIEs, Zal pulled back and couldn’t belive what she was seeing. Those bombers had done it! The star destroyer was disabled. Shifting her controls again she moved to eliminate the TIEs making an attack run on the Profundity. As she did, she saw that the disabled Star Destroyer had begun to move, making a gradual turn towards the destroyer next to it before making impact and slicing the command bridge and its support structures off the second destroyer before both destroyers crashed into the shield gate, destroying it on impact. </p><p>	As the gate and destroyers fell towards the surface of Scarif a massive object blocked out the sun, shifting the brightness of the battlefield to a darker duller hue. Zal was shocked by what she saw she had never seen something so big, and then it happened. She watched as the slightly concaved circle on the object begin to glow green before firing a green laser blast down at the surface of Scarif. She could only imaging the solders still fighting down there, unaware of what was coming. </p><p>	As she turned her attention back to the battle she heard Adrimal Raddus give the order over the comm.</p><p>	‘All ships prepare for jump to hyperspace!’</p><p>	Zal flipped her switch and felt her engine prepare for the jump while closing her s-folis to flight formation. As she entered hyperspace she let out a sigh of relief, she had made it through the battle. She couldn’t wait to tell the stories of this battle to everyone back home, but she knew that this was only the beginning. Her final kill tally from the battle was twenty, no one else from red squadron had come close to her tally. Only Green Two Torge Gommer had come close with sixteen kills.</p>
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